Incident Investigation & Analysis Flashcards
7 cards from real RED CARD practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Incident Investigation & Analysis flashcards as text
A Serious Accident Investigation Team (SAIT) is typically activated when which threshold is met on a wildland fire?
Answer: A fatality, life-threatening injury, or significant near-miss incident
SAITs are mobilized for fatalities, life-threatening injuries, and significant near-miss events that require a formal multi-agency investigation.
Why is it important for investigation teams to reconstruct the mental model held by firefighters at the time of an incident?
Answer: To understand the situational awareness they had, which drove their decisions
Reconstructing what firefighters perceived and understood at the time reveals how their situational awareness — accurate or not — led to their decisions.
Which of the following best represents an 'unsafe condition' as opposed to an 'unsafe act' in wildland fire accident analysis?
Answer: An escape route blocked by a tree that fell before the crew arrived
An unsafe condition is a pre-existing environmental or physical hazard independent of human action, such as a pre-fallen tree blocking an escape route.
After a fatality investigation is complete, which step is ESSENTIAL to ensure the findings have lasting impact on the wildland fire community?
Answer: Disseminating lessons learned through training programs and the Lessons Learned Center
Sharing findings through training and the Lessons Learned Center transforms tragedy into actionable knowledge that can prevent future incidents.
The term 'error chain' in wildland fire accident investigation refers to:
Answer: A sequence of errors and conditions that together led to the accident outcome
An error chain is the sequential series of mistakes, decisions, and conditions that combined to produce the accident, where breaking any link could have prevented it.
When an investigation reveals that a safety briefing was given but not understood by non-English-speaking crew members, this finding points to a failure in:
Answer: Communication effectiveness and language accessibility in safety briefings
Effective communication requires confirming comprehension, not just delivery; language barriers represent a communication system failure requiring organizational remedies.
What is the purpose of a 'trend analysis' conducted using multiple wildland fire accident investigation reports over several years?
Answer: To identify recurring systemic issues that single-incident investigations might miss
Trend analysis across multiple investigations reveals systemic patterns and persistent organizational failures that require broad corrective action rather than incident-specific fixes.